A comparison between nuclear dismantling during plant and animal programmed cell death

Programmed cell death (PCD) is a process of organized destruction of cells, essential for the development and maintenance of cellular homeostasis of multicellular organisms. Cells undergoing PCD begin a degenerative process in response to internal or external signals, whereby the nucleus becomes one of the targets. The process of nuclear dismantling includes events affecting the nuclear envelope, such as formation of lobes at the nuclear surface, selective proteolysis of nucleoporins and nuclear pore complex clustering. In addition, chromatin condensation increases in coordination with DNA fragmentation. These processes have been largely studied in animals, but remain poorly understood in plants. The overall process of cell death has different morphological and biochemical features in plants and animals. However, recent advances suggest that nuclear dismantling in plant cells progresses with morphological and biochemical characteristics similar to those in apoptotic animal cells. In this review, we summarize nuclear dismantling in plant PCD, focusing on the similarities and differences with their animal counterparts. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.